Ben Finney
'Lieutenant Commander Benjamin "Ben" Finney is a one-shot character from the Star Trek franchise, appearing on Star Trek: The Original Series in the Season 1 episode "Court Martial." He was portrayed by the late Richard Webb. History Finney was formerly an instructor at Starfleet Academy, where he befriended one of his students, future Enterprise captain James T. Kirk; the two were close to the point where Finney named his daughter, Jamie, after Kirk. The two were later assigned to the USS Republic, where Kirk later relieved him on watch for a negligent act that would have resulted in the destruction of the ship. Finney was reprimanded and sent to the bottom of the promotion list, and he held a bitter grudge against Kirk for making it impossible for him to advance through the ranks to Captain. Initially unaware of how Finney felt about him, Kirk asked for him when he took command of the USS Enterprise. Having been made aware of how much Finney despised him by Gary Mitchell, Kirk decided to name Spock as his new first officer instead of Finney after Mitchell's untimely 2266 death. Even though Kirk knew of Finney's true feelings, Kirk was determined to salvage the relationship if possible, and act professionally towards Finney. Finney remained on the Enterprise and was assigned as the ship's Records Officer. In 2267, Finney was apparently killed during an ion storm while in an observation pod, and the ship's records showed that Kirk was responsible for Finney's death, leading to Kirk being put on trial. It eventually comes out that the Enterprise computer records were tampered with and that Kirk was in fact being framed by Finney, who is revealed to still be alive. Kirk goes to confront Finney in the ship's engineering section, where Finney confirms he's in fact alive before appearing behind Kirk and holding him at gunpoint. After disarming Kirk, he reveals that he was trying to frame Kirk out of revenge. Worse, he's also sabotaged the Enterprise, causing its orbit to decay and endangering everyone on board. Kirk tries to talk him down, but when Finney rants about a conspiracy within Starfleet to keep him down, he informs him that Jame is aboard the Enterprise. This causes Finney to babble worriedly about his daughter and thus give Kirk the chance to fight and defeat his former friend. Once defeated, Finney tearfully reveals what he did to sabotage the Enterprise, allowing Kirk to repair the damage and therefore save the ship. Finney was later put on trial, with Samuel T. Cogley (the same attorney who represented Kirk during his court martial) acting as his lawyer. Finney, however, was found guilty of a number of crimes. Shortly before he entered the Nexus in 2293, Kirk visited Finney at the Federation penal colony in New Zealand. Finney was days away from release and planned to live with his family once freed. He no longer hated Kirk, but thought it would be best if Kirk made no further attempts to contact or visit him, feeling it would hamper the progress of his rehabilitation. Quotes Navigation Category:Live Action Villains Category:TV Show Villains Category:Science Fiction Villains Category:Star Trek Villains Category:Neutral Evil Category:Male Category:Master of Hero Category:Military Category:Nemesis Category:Obsessed Category:One-Shot Category:Paranoid Category:Parents Category:Power Hungry Category:Rogues Category:Saboteurs Category:Vengeful Category:Servant of Hero Category:Tragic Category:Traitor Category:Villains by Proxy Category:Mentally Ill Category:Wrathful Category:Karma Houdini Category:Insecure Category:Incriminators Category:Fallen Heroes Category:Grey Zone Category:Friend of a Hero Category:Forgers Category:Fanatics Category:Envious Category:Delusional Category:Criminals Category:Anti-Villain Category:Book Villains